West End Classic

The West End Classic was PGA Tour satellite event that was played at the Grand Bahama Hotel and Country Club in West End on Grand Bahama Island.

The tournament was won by Jim Wiechers, a 25-year-old Californian,^[1] by two strokes over Al Besselink and Johnny Pott. Although the tournament played for only one year (1969), it laid the groundwork and provided much of the infrastructure for a future PGA Tour event, the Bahamas National Open, which played in 1970 and 1971.

Players were allowed to use the regular-sized American ball and/or the smaller English ball. This may have been the only time that this was ever allowed during a PGA-sanctioned event. The competitors would play the bigger ball down wind, and the small ball into the wind. The purse was $25,000 with $5,000 going to the winner.

The December tournament was played opposite the Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic, which was won by Arnold Palmer. The field, however, was better than a normal satellite field because it was the last tournament of the year, and the players were jockeying for position on the Top-60 money list.

Winner

• 1969 Jim Wiechers

References